Page 7 of My Three Rivals

“I’m just going to see myself out of this conversation,” Garrity offered, striding toward the door. “Before I end up hearing something I shouldn’t.”

I ignored him and fixed on Maverick. “That makes it easier,” I insisted. “She obviously has no experience in business—or life. She’s just a princess, having everything handed to her from day one.”

“I agree,” Atticus concluded, standing again. “But Garrity is also right. We need to take a breath and rethink our strategy. Obviously, this isn’t going to work the way we thought it was. Let’s get out of here and figure this out.”

Reluctantly, but without much more of a choice, I followed my friend and business partner out of the boardroom and into the inner offices of Levingston and Millar.

I hated working with lawyers, but that was just a part of our job as real estate developers.

I particularly hated having to do in-person meetings with lawyers in their offices, the establishment reeking of, well,theestablishment. Too many memories of court dates and hearings flashed before my eyes whenever I walked through the swanky corridors, and those were memories I could have done without.

Not that my mom could have ever afforded a lawyer like this.

My mother’s lawyers had always been public defenders in ill-fitting suits with rushed questions, men and women who had her figured out even before they opened the case file in front of them. But lawyers were lawyers, and they represented the same broken system to me, Venetian glass statues or dated tweed jackets.

It was a relief to escape the walls of the posh interior and break into the light of the Sacramento sunshine, a cloud passing overhead just as I thought it.

That’s some interesting foreshadowing right there,I mused wryly, but I didn’t put too much stock into it, really. As annoying as this endeavor was proving to be, in the end, Suncrop Corp would succeed. We always had, despite all the odds stacked against us, three impoverished kids from the wrong parts of our respective towns.

“Wanna go for a beer?” Atticus suggested. “Put our heads together and make a plan to get her out?”

“I’m in,” I agreed.

Maverick shook his head, running a hand through his blond mane, a sign I recognized as agitation, even if he hid it well. “I’ve got an appointment with Lou.”

My shoulders stiffened inadvertently, and I glanced at Atticus.

“I forgot,” Atticus said, maintaining his stoic expression. “Send him my regards.”

Maverick grunted and gave a half-hearted salute before heading toward his car parked in the Levingston and Millar personal lot. I watched him climb into his silver Porsche and drive off, leaving me and Atticus in the lot.

“Anything I need to worry about?” I asked.

Atticus eyed me, his greenish-brown eyes pensive. “With Pickett?”

“With Lou.”

“Oh.” He hesitated. “No more than usual.”

“Comforting.”

“Never mind Lou, and that shit right now. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do with the girl.”

He gestured for me to follow him toward the street, and I did, glancing back at SUV. “I can’t believe Maverick didn’t find anything about her online,” I muttered. “She can’t be more than twenty-five. She has to have some sort of social media presence.”

“Maybe she’s using a different name,” Atticus shrugged. “He probably didn’t look very hard when he didn’t find anything, thinking that we were dealing with someone much older.”

“He should have done better,” I growled.

Atticus paused in front of a small bistro with a shiny brass handle and pulled it open. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“Sure it does,” I insisted. “We can dig up some shit on her and make her sell if she doesn’t want to go nicely.”

My voice had always run low, but in the mild din of the lunch crowd inside the restaurant, Atticus almost didn’t hear me. He turned to look at me with a frown. “Let’s try to keep it on the down-low for right now. Lou won’t like heat.”

I scoffed, but Atticus’ frown deepened. “Don’t underestimate the rich, Wy. They are all bluster, no balls. She’ll run right to the cops if she gets scared.”

I balked at the idea and nodded. “All right. But I’m still going to see if I can dig something up on her—just in case.”

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